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Ireland’s two injury concerns, Jared Payne and Rob Kearney, have both been left out of the matchday squad for this weekend’s game against Italy.

Rob Kearney and Jared Payne have both lost their fitness battles for Ireland’s crucial World Cup clash with Italy on Sunday.

Rob Kearney, the established first-choice 15, sustained an injury against Romania on Sunday, having come on as a replacement, while Simon Zebo has left the World Cup squad on compassionate leave following the death of his grandfather.

There is another provincial axis in midfield with Ulster’s Darren Cave and Payne filling the centre berths, while Earls is joined in the back-three by Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe, the only survivor from Ireland’s 43-12 victory over Romania back in November 2005.

Joe Schmidt is expected to make numerous changes for Sunday’s clash with Murphy stressing that players will be selected based on their performance at training.

When they last met, in June 2013, in front of 20,000 in Toronto, Ireland eased to a 40-14 victory.

Joe Schmidt’s men beat Canada by 50-7 at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.